Eye movement assessment of selective attentional capture by emotional pictures

The eye-tracking method was used to assess attentional orienting to and engagement on emotional visual scenes. In Experiment 1, unpleasant, neutral, or pleasant target pictures were presented simultaneously with neutral control pictures in peripheral vision under instruction to compare pleasantness of the pictures. The probability of first fixating an emotional picture, and the frequency of subsequent fixations, were greater than those for neutral pictures. In Experiment 2, participants were instructed to avoid looking at the emotional pictures, but these were still more likely to be fixated first and gazed longer during the first-pass viewing than neutral pictures. Low-level visual features cannot explain the results. It is concluded that overt visual attention is captured by both unpleasant and pleasant emotional content.     

Evaluation and Comparison of Three Instruments Designed to Measure Organizational Power and Influence Tactics

The purpose of the present study is to assess the internal consistency and construct validity of three instruments measuring the use of influence tactics. Instruments by Frost and Stahelski (1988) and Hinkin and Schriesheim (1989) had been developed to be psychometrically sound measures of the French and Raven (1959) bases of power. Kipnis and Schmidt (1982a) developed a new typology to measure organizational influence, the Profile of Organizational Influence Strategies (POIS). Four hundred seventy-nine undergraduate students completed these instruments to describe the influence tactics used by their supervisor. Results indicated that the Hinkin and Schriesheim instrument has greater internal consistency and a more precisely defined factor structure than the Frost and Stahelski instrument. The corresponding scales of the two instruments measuring the French and Raven power bases are not highly correlated, suggesting that the two instruments are not equivalent. Furthermore, the pattern of correlations between scales of the three instruments suggests that neither the French and Raven not the POIS typology fully represents the structure of influence tactics.     

Do Big Five personality traits associated with self-control influence the regulation of anger and aggression?

This study examined whether Big Five personality traits associated with the ability to exhibit self-control would moderate the anger–aggression link. A total of 126 participants (63 women) completed personality measures. In a separate experimental session, participants wrote an essay and then received either positive or negative feedback from a fictitious participant. Participants were given the opportunity to aggress against the supposed other person. Baseline and post-experimental emotions were assessed. EEG was recorded to measure activity in midfrontal, lateral-frontal, and parietal areas. Results replicated previous findings that anger is associated with left relative to right prefrontal asymmetry and aggression. Conscientiousness was negatively associated with anger and relative left prefrontal asymmetry. Conscientiousness also moderated the link between anger and aggression. Agreeableness was positively associated with anger, but only when levels of conscientiousness were low.     

Emotional and neutral scenes in competition: orienting, efficiency, and identification

To investigate preferential processing of emotional scenes competing for limited attentional resources with neutral scenes, prime pictures were presented briefly (450 ms), peripherally (5.2° away from fixation), and simultaneously (one emotional and one neutral scene) versus singly. Primes were followed by a mask and a probe for recognition. Hit rate was higher for emotional than for neutral scenes in the dual- but not in the single-prime condition, and A' sensitivity decreased for neutral but not for emotional scenes in the dual-prime condition. This preferential processing involved both selective orienting and efficient encoding, as revealed, respectively, by a higher probability of first fixation on—and shorter saccade latencies to—emotional scenes and by shorter fixation time needed to accurately identify emotional scenes, in comparison with neutral scenes.     

Letter to the editor

Sandor Ferenczi: Reconsidering Active Interventions by Martin Stanton (Northvale, NJ: Aronson, 1991, xv + 226 pp.)

The Legacy of Sandor Ferenczi, edited by Lewis Aron and Adrienne Harris (Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press, 1993, xxiii + 294 pp.)

The Correspondence of Sigmund Freud and Sandor Ferenczi, Vol. 1, 1908–1914, edited by Eva Brabant, Ernst Falzeder, and Patrizia Giampieri‐Deutch under the supervision of André Haynal; translated by Peter T. Hoffer (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1993, xxxv + 584 pp.)     

Is multiple object tracking carried out automatically by an early vision mechanism independent of higher‐order cognition? An individual difference approach

Existing theories of multiple object tracking (MOT) offer different predictions concerning the role of higher level cognitive processes, individual differences, effortful attention and parallel processing in MOT. Pylyshyn's model (1989) argues for an automatic parallel processing mechanism separate from other cognition, whereas alternative models (e.g., Kahneman & Treisman, 1984 or spotlight models) are based on higher level cognition such as spatial short‐term memory and/or effortful attention switching. These predictions were examined in Experiment 1 where identical objects and in Experiment 2 where visually and semantically distinct objects were tracked. Both experiments demonstrated a substantial individual variation in the estimated tracking capacity. Tasks measuring visuospatial short‐term memory and attention switching proved to be significant predictors of MOT. In addition, tracking performance deteriorated as a function of tracking time and set size. Our results are in contrast to Pylyshyn's model. A mechanism with both parallel and serial processing and temporary spatial memory is outlined to accommodate the observed pattern of results.     

Tracking the identity of moving words: Stimulus complexity and familiarity affects tracking accuracy

In two experiments, participants tracked the identity and location of moving words. The task bears resemblance to one performed by air traffic controllers who track multiple moving aircraft, where they are identified with relatively complex alphanumeric call signs. In Experiment 1, stimulus familiarity was manipulated by comparing the tracking of familiar words and pseudowords. In Experiment 2, also stimulus complexity was varied by having the participants track short and long words. Stimulus complexity affected tracking: Short words were easier to track than long words. Moreover, familiarity of identity affected tracking of short words (short familiar words were easier to track than short pseudo-words) but not of long words. The results are interpreted within the framework of the model of multiple identity tracking model. Mathematical simulations suggest that observers may not have enough time for full identification of complex identities in a dynamic situation. Practical implications of the results for air traffic control are discussed.     

Worse than sticks and stones? Bullying is associated with altered HPA axis functioning and poorer health

Adolescents (N = 107; M = 12.23 years, SD = 1.09 months) participated in a two-part study examining peer victimization, neuroendocrine functioning, and physical health. In phase 1, adolescents completed questionnaires assessing peer victimization and health. They returned for phase 2 which consisted of two sessions. In session 1, adolescents learned to collect salivary cortisol samples; they collected four samples over 2 non-sports school days. In session 2, adolescents completed the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) in which they prepared and delivered a speech while cortisol was collected. Peer victimization predicted poor health outcomes and a flattened cortisol awakening response (CAR); this CAR was linked with health problems. During the TSST, victims reported more stress and exhibited altered cortisol levels. Higher cortisol immediately after the stressor and lower cortisol 30 min after the stressor were associated with more health problems. This study provides evidence that the relationship between peer victimization and poor physical health may be explained by differences in neuroendocrine functioning.     

Agreeableness as a predictor of aggression in adolescence

This multi‐method research linked the Big Five personality dimensions to aggression in early adolescence. Agreeableness was the personality dimension of focus because this dimension is associated with motives to maintain positive interpersonal relations. In two studies, middle school children were assessed on the Big Five domains of personality. Study 1 showed that agreeableness was associated with both indirect and direct aggression. In addition, the link between agreeableness and aggression was strongest for direct strategies. Study 2 examined the hypotheses that agreeableness predicts social cognitions associated with aggression, peer reports of direct aggression, and teacher reports of adjustment. Agreeableness predicted peer reports of aggression and social cognitions associated with aggression. In addition, aggression mediated the link between agreeableness and adjustment. Results suggest that of the Big Five dimensions, Agreeableness is most closely associated with processes and outcomes related to aggression in adolescents. Aggr. Behav. 30:43–61, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Anorexia nervosa: treatment satisfaction

Patient satisfaction plays a central role in treatment alliance and outcome. Investigating patient expectations and experiences of treatment sheds light on its importance. This study examines adolescent anorexia nervosa patients and their parents' satisfaction with family‐based treatment. Patients and parents answered a questionnaire at the eighteen‐month follow‐up focusing on expectations and experiences of treatment, therapists, aims of treatment and accomplishment. The results show that 73 per cent of the patients and 83 per cent of the parents felt that their pre‐treatment expectations had been fulfilled. The majority agreed that individual patient sessions and parental sessions were of great help, while the patients valued family therapy sessions as being less helpful than did parents. In overall terms, parents were more pleased with the therapists than were the patients. These data suggest that family‐based treatment with individual sessions for patients, in parallel with parental sessions combined with family sessions, corresponds well to patients' and parents' treatment expectations.